Shukaku
Shukaku, more commonly known as the One-Tail (一尾, Ichibi), is a tailed beast that was last sealed within Gaara of Sunagakure. The beast was first sealed into Xander Larkin, then into unknown villager from the Sand. It has been captured by Deidara, then extracted and sealed by Akatsuki. 'History' Early Years Shukaku first came into being in the waning days of the Sage of the Six Paths, who used his Creation of All Things ability to separate the Ten-Tails' chakra from its body and divide it into nine separate constructs in order to ensure that it would never resurface after his death. Some time after being created, the Sage sat down with all the young tailed beasts and told them that they would always be together even when separated, and that one day they would become one entity again with different names as well as forms than they did then when the time came for them to understand what true power is. Citizens of Sunagakure came to believe that Shukaku was a living ghost (生霊, ikiryō) of a corrupted Suna priest, and was originally sealed inside a tea kettle. Shukaku had two previous jinchūriki, one of which inspired the Third Kazekage to create the Iron Sand technique. Shukaku was eventually removed from their bodies, resulting in their deaths, When Karura became pregnant with Gaara, her husband, the Fourth Kazekage, had Chiyo to seal Shukaku into Gaara while he was still in the womb, because of his three children, Gaara was the only compatible one with the beast. Before Karura died from a premature childbirth, she passionately told her son that she would protect him and according to her husband, her love seeped into the sand. However, Gaara couldn't properly control Shukaku's powers, killing or injuring several of Suna's shinobi and citizens. Deemed a failure, the Fourth Kazekage chose to test his son, ordering Yashamaru to assassinate him and also tell him that his mother never loved him, and that she was used as a human sacrifice for the sealing process. Gaara failed the test, fully releasing the rampaging Shukaku, to which the Fourth eventually used his Gold Dust to subdue the tanuki. 'Abilities' Like all tailed beasts, Shukaku foremost has an enormous supply of chakra and can perform the Tailed Beast Ball. The tanuki is also able to use Wind Release nature transformation, which it uses to perform powerful attacks such as the Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet which can create giant craters upon impact. Most notable of the the beast's power is its ability to manipulate sand, using it as an effective weapon. At fully-released form, Shukaku's body is completely made of sand; as such he can ignore most damage that would otherwise be detrimental, as shown when he had one of his arms chopped off by Gamabunta and was still able to keep on fighting. Whenever Shukaku is sealed into its jinchūriki, it has the ability to eat away its host's personality, and influence him or her with its bloodlust behaviour whenever he or she sleeps, which leads its host to develop insomnia. Activity inside Gaara As the jinchūriki of Shukaku, Gaara gained the ability to manipulate sand at will. Shukaku was at first believed to be the source of Gaara's Shield of Sand, however, the Fourth Kazekage revealed that the sand moved to protect him due his mother's will which had been infused into the sand in order to forever protect Gaara from all harm. When angry or in a state of blood-lust, Gaara can use the sand in his gourd to take on the form of a miniature Shukaku, or even create a giant copy of Shukaku's body which can be taken over by the beast once he fell asleep. 'Appearance' Shukaku is a sandy-brown coloured tanuki, with black markings all over its face, body, and tail. It has a jagged, concave mouth and the sclerae of its eyes are black, with yellow irides and pupils that each takes the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it. During the last days of the Sage of the Six Paths, Shukaku in its youth looked the same as it does presently, only much smaller. 'Personality' Shukaku is cunning, but also incoherent, giving it the demeanour of a madman. According to Gaara, because of its innate rage and blood-lust, Shukaku relishes the opportunity to kill anyone in sight, even more so during a full moon. Like all tailed beasts, Shukaku has a strong desire to preserve its own life, and as such, will grant its jinchūriki the power to control sand as well as allow them to transform into it in a state of need and blood-lust. Gyūki mentioned that Shukaku hates Kurama for its beliefs that the tailed beasts' strength is measured by the number of tails and, as such, views Shukaku as the weakest. 'Trivia' *'Shukaku' (守鶴) literally means 'protector crane'. *A tanuki (狸, raccoon dog) is a popular figure in Japanese folklore and is famous for its mischievous nature and abilities to shape-shift. Tanuki are also said be rivals to the kitsune, which created an old Japanese proverb: "A fox and a tanuki matching their cleverness" (狐と狸の化かし合い, kitsune to tanuki no bakashi ai), meaning two sly characters trying to outsmart one another. Shukaku being sealed inside a tea kettle is a reference to one Japanese tale called Bunbuku Chagama. In addition, Shukaku being claimed to be a corrupted Suna priest earlier in the series, has ties to a legend in the Kenchō-ji temple of a tanuki disguised as the shrine's priest. *Shukaku is the first tailed beast to have its name revealed in the series, and the only one that has not been resealed into its former host during the Fourth Shinobi World War, or have the characteristic red-chakra-shrouded Version 1 or Version 2 forms. Category:Tailed Beasts